RT Journal Article
T1 Correlating gas permeability and morphology of bio-based polyether-block-amide copolymer membranes by IR nanospectroscopy
A1 David, Oana
A1 Etxeberria Benavides, Miren
A1 Amenabar Altuna, Iban
A1 Fernandez Carretero, Francisco Jose
A1 Diaz De Guereñu Zabarte, Maria del Mar
A1 Flat, Jean Jaques
A1 Pineau, Quentin
A1 Goikoetxea Larruskain, Monika
A1 Hillenbrand, Rainer
AB The gas permeability of polymer membranes is determined by their nanoscale morphology, which strongly depends on the membrane fabrication. Here, we demonstrate how the correlation between gas permeability and fabrication-dependent nanoscale morphology of polymer membranes can be elucidated by infrared (IR) nanospectroscopy based on elastic IR scattering at an atomic force microscope tip. Specifically, we fabricated membranes of PEBAX® RNEW – a bio-based polyether-block-amide copolymer – by solvent casting and extrusion, achieving unprecedented CO2 permeability and CO2/N2 selectivity for the solvent-cast membranes. For the extruded membranes, however, we found an about 50 % reduced CO2 permeability, which could not be explained by differential scanning calorimetry and conventional IR spectroscopy. In contrast, IR nanospectroscopy revealed a highly crystalline polyether oxide (PEO) surface layer on the extruded membranes, not observed for the solvent-cast membranes. Annealing of the extruded membranes at 110 °C transformed the crystalline into amorphous PEO layers, as confirmed by IR nanospectroscopy, yielding a gas permeability close to that of the solvent-cast membranes. We thus attribute the dramatic gas reduction of the extruded membranes to their highly crystalline surface layers. Generally, studying polymer morphology by IR nanospectroscopy provides valuable information for better understanding the local gas permeability properties of polymer membranes.
SN 0376-7388
YR 2024
FD 2024-08
LK https://hdl.handle.net/11556/4873
UL https://hdl.handle.net/11556/4873
LA eng
NO David , O , Etxeberria Benavides , M , Amenabar Altuna , I , Fernandez Carretero , F J , Diaz De Guereñu Zabarte , M D M , Flat , J J , Pineau , Q , Goikoetxea Larruskain , M & Hillenbrand , R 2024 , ' Correlating gas permeability and morphology of bio-based polyether-block-amide copolymer membranes by IR nanospectroscopy ' , Journal of Membrane Science , vol. 708 , 123001 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2024.123001
NO Publisher Copyright: © 2024
DS TECNALIA Publications
RD 29 sept 2024